Consider My Servant
by OldFashionedGirl95
Summary: "Hast thou considered my servant Peter?" So said the Lord to the Accuser.
1. None Like Him for Wisdom

**AN: I've been talking about this story for far too long. WillowDryad's been reading bits of it for months. Laura Andrews, for almost as long. My thanks especially to Willow for suggesting that I relieve the wall of archaism with scenes of real action, to Laura for proofreading and encouragement, and to all the readers who have discussed the idea with me and encouraged me to post it. **

**Peter, Susan, Lucy, and especially Edmund are not mine. Any mistakes are mine—to quote Lisa Gardner, I have to take credit for _something_. **

* * *

There was a woman in the city of London whose name was Pevensie, and that woman was one who feared God and eschewed evil. There were born unto her two sons and two daughters, and they were yet young. And she rose up early in the morning and offered prayers according to the number of them all: for she said, Let not my children sin and curse God in their hearts. But especially did she pray for her son Edmund.

* * *

_Dear God, they're still so young. Lucy's only eight, and Edmund torments her so. Peter tries __to be big and manly, but he and Edmund will fight, __and Susan will try to stop them, and Lucy will cry. Please, watch over them and let this dreadful war be over soon._

* * *

And it came to pass that the children did seek amusement one day, and a door opened, and they went through, and entered into a strange land. And a prophet of the Lord anointed them, and they were called kings and queens, and made rulers of the land and all that did dwell therein. And they increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men.

They were known as good and upright, and ones that followed the Lord and eschewed evil, and they ruled the land justly and well, and were greatly loved by all their subjects: men and women, he-beasts and she-beasts, and spirits of the waters and trees; so that they were called the greatest of all the kings and queens of the north since the dawn of time.

And when they were come to men's estate and full-grown, the kings and the younger queen also did often ride to war, but the elder queen remained at home and offered prayers for their safety, lest enemies fall upon them unawares and the edge of the sword devour them, and she be left alone, without her sister or her two brothers.

* * *

_Aslan, Great Lion, watch over them. Smooth the road before them, warm the chilling winds at their backs, turn their enemies' arrows from their necks, and strengthen their sword arms. Dear Aslan, please guard them, protect them, and bring them safely home._

* * *

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser came also among them. And the Lord said unto the Accuser, Whence comest thou? Then the Accuser answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it.

And the Lord said unto the Accuser, Hast thou considered my servant Edmund, that there is none like him in all the earth for wisdom and understanding? For he feareth God and escheweth evil, and hath walked in the ways of righteousness since he was but a boy.

Then the Accuser answered the Lord, saying, Doth Edmund fear God for naught? Thou didst rescue his life from mortal danger and enthrone him on high, and all to which he putteth his hand thou hast blessed. Every creature of the land accordeth him high honor and respect, and thou hast given unto him wisdom and great riches. But withdraw thy hand of blessing and deprive him of the blithe life which thou hast granted him, and he shall reject thee; as surely as once he turned against thee, so shall he again.

And the Lord said unto the Accuser, Behold, these things are in thy power, and with them thou mayest do as thou wishest, only reap not more than the appointed number of lives from among my creatures.

And thus there came a day when Edmund, his brother the High King, and his sisters the Queens did ride out to the hunt, and they traveled farther than was their wont, yet still the quarry eluded them. But would none of them yield themselves mastered in the quest, but pressed on, and the door opened before them as once it had done, and they sank down through the chasm.

Then they found themselves lacking their thrones and crowns, their land and their people and the lives which the Lord had given them in that land; for they had become as strangers in the land of their birth and vanished were the years in the land which they had called their own, as years devoured by the locust.

* * *

_"Fair . . . Consorts," said Peter, but the words sounded suddenly strange. "Sister—Lu—thou wast in earnest when thou spakest of a great change in our fortunes."_

_There was a mothball on the floor. The rain drizzled down the window-pane. A dead bluebottle-fly lay in the dust on the windowsill, and Mrs. Macready's voice, answering a question ("No, sir. The kennels have been empty for years, but if you're lucky you'll see a glimpse of Cabal's great-grandson. . . . ") drifted through the door. _

_They stood silent for a moment, and Lucy's hand stole into Susan's, for she was suddenly a little girl again. Then she broke away and ran desperately into the open wardrobe, her hands outstretched to catch hold of anything—a dusky fir branch, the edge of a gown, a thread of dried grass—before it melted away._

* * *

But the door was closed and barred from the other side.

* * *

_There was a thump, and a sob. Peter and Susan looked mutely at one another. Susan wondered for a moment if they had imagined it all. She could distinctly remember that Edmund had not eaten his porridge that morning and had muttered things under his breath about Lucy and magical forests until Peter glared at him. But at the same time, she could see them just that afternoon, cantering through the splendor of the autumn forests and laughing together. Which was the truth? _

_It was Edmund, now, who stepped forward and brought Lucy, crying, out of the forest of coats. He would not have done that when they were children—but they were children now. Lucy ran and flung her arms around Peter._

_"Sisters and brother," said Edmund, and his his round, freckled face was both familiar and unfamiliar, just as in the way photos of you when you were three or four or eight are both familiar and strange. "A quarter of an hour past, if indeed 'twas but a quarter hour, we thought it a hard thing merely to consider turning aside from the course we had set ourselves, and we all of us vowed, as my sister Susan rightly phrased it, to press on and take the adventure as it befell us."_

_"Oh, look not so at me!" said Susan, the old-fashioned words slipping out easily when she thought of the conversation by the lamppost. "I wished to turn back and give up the chase, as ye well know."_

_"Nay, sister," said Peter, stroking Lucy's hair. "Our brother hath the right. Thy tender heart seeketh not adventure, yet thou shrinkest not when once it is thrust upon thee."_

_Lucy raised her head. "But of what sort is this adventure?"_

_"Ye do not remember?" said Peter, his eyes beginning to twinkle again. "Ye do not remember how just last winter, of a long and merry evening, we spoke together of all we had undertaken in Narnia and all we had achieved, the battles, quests, feats of arms, and acts of justice?"_

_ "Aye," said Edmund. "Did we not jestingly say that no quest remained to which we might lay our hands, and did not our sister Susan say that truly, one quest always and yet remained: the quest for the land of our birth, of which not even the oldest Centaurs could tell us aught? And now, ye see, the quest is achieved, and within a year and a day of our words."_

_"I think—" said Susan, memories and lives and ways of speech overlapping in her mind, "I don't think—I meant not my words in earnest." Then she, too, began to cry. Narnia was slipping away. She felt less and less a Queen and more and more a schoolgirl. Edmund, now half a head shorter than she, put his arms around her. She touched the end of one plaited pigtail; then jerked her hand away and clung to Edmund._

_Presently, she raised her head, dug for a handkerchief, and said, "I suppose the coats we borrowed are back in the wardrobe, and everything is just as it was?"_

_But the coats were gone, mouldering somewhere in western Narnia between the Beaver's Dam and the Stone Table._

_"We shall just have to man up and tell the Professor that we have lost them," said Peter._

"_Think you—will he believe us?" Susan offered her handkerchief to Lucy, who was wiping her eyes on the backs of her hands and looking very little again._

_ "Nothing for it but to tell the honest truth," said Edmund, offering his arm to her._

* * *

And so they did, and talked long with that wise man, into whose care the Lord had placed them. And when the full extent of their situation was made clear, and many tears had been shed, then at last did Edmund arise and say, "The Lord giveth and the Lord hath taken away, and have we not been granted this promise: that one day we shall return? Therefore let us not be cast down, but remain steadfast in this land, which is also ours."

And he blessed the name of the Lord.


	2. A Mighty Warrior Before the Lord

**AN: I lost portions of this chapter twice and had to rewrite—that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Also, the formatting for this tale is in flux and I apologize. ETA: I think I've settled it now. Sorry for any confusion.**

**Many thanks to Willow Dryad and Laura Andrews for brainstorming and proofreading and putting up with my angst over name choices for bit characters.**

**Nothing's mine.**

* * *

So a year and a day passed in the land of the children's birth, and steadfastly did they cleave to the promise given them, that they should one day return to the land which the Lord had given them, a land flowing with milk and wine.

But in that land there passed generation upon generation, and a new king came to the throne who did not know Peter the High King nor Edmund his brother-king.

And he enslaved the people of the land and drove them unto the hills and dark caves of the forest, and slew them with the edge of the sword, for greatly did he fear them. And of the fear of the Lord he knew nothing.

Then the Lord beheld the state of the land, and he was grieved in his heart, for the stench of the evil that was done therein offended him. And the Lord said to himself, Behold, the living waters are enchained, and the creatures of the field, whom by my breath I granted speech, are slaughtered like sheep fatted for the market.

The land groans under the burdens laid upon her, and the very earth cries out to me for relief from her oppressors. Therefore shall I arise and judge, and with my mouth devour the wild boars who have invaded my vineyard.

And it came to pass that the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser came also among them.

And the Lord said to the Accuser, Whence comest thou?

And the Accuser answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro upon the earth and from walking up and down in it.

And the Lord said to the Accuser, Hast thou considered my servant Peter that there is none like him in all the land, a mighty warrior for the Lord and a man after mine own heart? Though I have taken him from his home and people, yet still doth he walk in my ways, sharing all he hath with the needy and uplifting the downtrodden. Now shall I call him back to the land he loveth, and he shall fight my battles and free my people from slavery.

Then the Accuser answered the Lord and said, Long may a man live on hope! For didst thou not vouchsafe him that he should one day return, and his brethren with him; and hath not the hope thereof sustained him from the rising to the setting of the sun?

Now shall he come: and behold, his beloved friends are passed away; and their children's children went down gray-headed to the grave, and their names are blotted from the earth.

Then, O Lord, banish him for ever to the sickly gray world whence he cometh, and remove from him even the hope of return. For he is even a man and hath his limits, and shall at last despair, turn from thy paths, and call no longer upon thy name.

The Lord saw that in this would his own name be glorified, and therefore he said to the Accuser, What thou hast said, so mayest thou do; but stretch not forth thy hand to touch an hair of his head, no, nor aught of his brethren.

So the Accuser went out from before the Lord.

Then the land cried out in her affliction, and the Deep Magic drew the children across the worlds, and they knew not whither they were come.

* * *

_"Look," said Susan, and her voice was choky. "I found it by the well." She put the thing in Peter's hand and sat down._

_He rubbed off the dirt on his shirt until the metal glinted in the fading light; then turned it slowly in his hands. It was about as long as a hen's egg, not so thick, and heavy enough to be solid gold, dwarf-beaten by tiny hammers into a miniature figurine. The firelight ran gleaming along its back, sparking red where the eye ought to be, and in that flash he saw it all._

_The island. The ruined castle. The cracked and cobbled dais. The ancient apple trees. And this—a golden, ruby-eyed chess-knight, looking for all the world like one of those with which he and Edmund had played, in the castle by the sea._

_"Well, I'm . . . I'm jiggered," said Peter._

* * *

And when their location by careful study was made known unto them, then were they filled with wonder and gladness; yet was there also in their hearts sorrow for their boon-companions gone down before them to the grave. And in the night, the joy and the sorrow were so mingled that none could distinguish the laughter from the weeping.

And at dawn there came unto them an emissary of the people and begged their aid; therefore they arose and went forth, and strove with the enemy. By the Lord's might were they victorious, establishing the fear of the Lord and his law from the Great Waterfall in the west to Cair Paravel in the east, and they enthroned the rightful king and slew the enemies of the Lord with the edge of the sword.

Then the Lord said to Peter the eldest and to Susan his sister, The time hath come that ye must return to the land of your birth, for your work here is accomplished. Ye wax old for the play of children, and this no longer is your home.

And Peter wept aloud, but Susan beheld afar off her brother and sister, whom the Lord loved, and said, Lord, what shall they do?

But the Lord said, What is that to thee? and talked long with them.

And when the time came, Peter the High King went through the doorway with Susan his sister Queen after him and Edmund the King and Lucy the Queen, leading those of the foreigners who trusted the Lord to keep his word and bring them to the land he had promised them.

* * *

_Susan's hands trembled on his shoulders and gripped tighter. Through the door, Peter saw the green Trees of Narnia and the red Lion banner fluttering over the new King Caspian and his loyal followers. The DLF had a new hood of blue edged with gold. Trufflehunter wore a heavy gold chain about his neck, and Dr. Cornelius's black robes were livened by a splash of white, but Aslan in all his glory made them look dull, and his deep amber eyes gazed into Peter's._

_Peter took a last deep breath of sweet Narnian air spiced with the scent of the Lion's mane, but a whiff of railway smell came through the door. He squared his shoulders and fixed his eyes on Aslan's. The figures of ten-day friends blurred into the gravelly outlines of a country train platform, just as their Narnian selves had once before blurred and shifted back into those of English schoolchildren, but Aslan's eyes remained clear as the rest faded. Then Peter blinked and they were gone. He was sitting with the others on the sleepy station bench, surrounded by luggage, and absolutely nothing had changed._

_"Well," he said. "We _have_ had a time."_

_"Bother!" said Edmund. "I've left my new torch in Narnia!"_

_There was no time to say more, for the girls' train was pulling into the station. He and Edmund helped them find their trunks and little bags, hugged Lucy, and waved them off. Lucy was clutching Susan's hand, for it was her first year at boarding school, and she turned around and waved all the way with her other hand. He thought Susan would not look back, but at the last moment she turned and waved, and he waved back._

_It was half an hour until his and Edmund's train arrived, and they said little as they waiting. Peter was thinking about what Aslan had said that morning in Narnia—I never heard it all and so I can't tell you what it was. Edmund, growing hungry, discovered that their lunches-which they had split with the girls and eaten in Narnia-were gone with his torch. He tried not to picture Susan and Lucy peacefully eating on the train, for the girls had left their lunches behind when they went to Narnia, but it was a long half-hour._

_When at last the train came and they found their seats, they thought at first that the compartment was empty. A closer inspection, however, revealed a small boy crying in the corner, and Peter decided that something had to be done. He looked at Edmund, who had just had the same thought._

_"Oughtn't we—" began Edmund._

_"Leave it to me," said Peter. So Edmund retired with his Latin grammar, while Peter took the seat beside the boy and offered him a handkerchief with a pleasant, "Dry up." Once the sniveling subsided, he proceeded._

_"I'm Pevensie. Pevensie Major, rather."_

_"St. Clair."_

_"Rotten luck. Do you have another?"_

_"Percival." After a moment, he added, "My mum calls me Percy," and grimaced._

_"No good. Can't be branded a sissy before you even open your mouth. What you need is a nickname."_

_"A nickname?"_

_"Like they called Arthur 'The Wart.'"_

_"Arthur?"_

_"King Arthur?"_

_"Oh." He considered that a moment. "You could call me Jack."_

_"Jack it is, then. Pleased to meet you."_

_And that was the beginning of their friendship. Jack was seven years old, and this was his first time away from Everest, his nanny. His lip began to tremble again, but Peter cuffed his shoulder and said,_

_"Buck up, old pal. Every knight-errant has to leave his home to seek adventure and knowledge. Have you ever had adventures?"_

_Jack shook his head, and Peter leaned closer, as if sharing a confidence._

_"There's a whole world of adventures waiting for us out there."_

* * *

So did Peter befriend one in need, and when a proud, arrant youth joined them on their journey and showed cruelty to the boy, then did Peter defend him, and make the foolish youth beg his pardon.

And at even, when they were come unto the lodging-place where they were to abide, then did Peter say unto his brother, He hath shown me, O Brother, what is good; and truly goodness exists also in this land. And what doth the Lord require of me? But to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.

Thus in his testing did Peter not falter, for the Lord's hand was upon him to guide him, and he did not sin.


End file.
